In Pictures: Top phones and tablets for holiday 2013

Phones and tablets will continue to be the hottest gift in the technology world this holiday gift season. Here are our picks for the coolest ones for your list:

Apple iPad Air
Price: Starts at $500
Buy this for: The iPad fan who suddenly realizes that their tablet is too heavy, or as a starting tablet for someone who hasn’t yet experienced the joy of Apple’s iPad.

Sony Xperia Z smartphone
Price: $50 (upfront price, or $530 full retail/unlocked), plus $20 per month for two years, plus voice and data plans.
Buy this for: A Sony fan who wants an Android phone with a very large screen and excellent camera, who also happens to have good coverage from T-Mobile.

Kyocera Wireless Hydro C5170 smartphone
Price: $80 from Boost Mobile, plus voice and data plans.
Buy this if: You tend to drop your phone in water…a lot. The Hydro is certified waterproof for immersion in water for up to 30 minutes, and when it’s not in water you’ll enjoy the Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) operating system features and a nice 3.2-megapixel camera/camcorder.

LG G2 Android smartphone (Verizon Wireless)
Price: $150 (with 2-year contract; $550 with month-to-month contract)
Buy this for: Anyone who enjoys the Android operating system on their phone and wants a large screen for viewing movies, reading emails or multi-tasking between apps. Operates on the awesome Verizon Wireless 4G LTE network for high-speed downloads and uploads, so you can get those cool videos up to the cloud faster than before.

SmartDevices Projector Tablet U7
Price: $300 (for the U7, for $350 you can buy the U7H, which includes an upgraded processor)
Buy this for: An Android tablet fan who sees some good benefit in having a projector built into their tablet for presentations or videos. This is a very cool concept, one that we may see in future tablets, but you can enjoy it now.

Razer Edge gaming tablet
Price: $1,000
Gamers that are sick of even their thin gaming notebooks will appreciate the portability of the Razer Edge, a powerful tablet that can run PC games and applications, but in a tablet format. Features Windows 8, Intel Core i5 processors, 4GB of DDR3 memory, 10.1-inch display and a 64GB solid-state drive. It may run like a computer but it feels and looks like a tablet.

Samsung Galaxy Note 3 (AT&T service)
Price: $300 (with new two-year contract, plus voice and data plans)
Buy this for the phone user who wants a really large screen, wants to use as a mini-tablet with a stylus and enjoys the Android operating system. If they’re interested in the Samsung Galaxy Smart Watch, this phone will work with the watch.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 7.0 Kids
Price: $250
If your kids are already swiping your tablets all the time, why not get them one that’s a lot more kid-friendly? The interface is designed for younger users, parental controls help keep them away from less-than-friendly Internet areas and apps, and comes with a very handy stylus for users who don’t want to use their fingers all the time.

Ematic FunTab Pro
Price: $150
This 7-inch Android 4.0 tablet is designed for kids, featuring an easier interface that “adapts to your child’s age and skill level), includes a bunch of apps designed for kids, parental controls, an “unlocked parent mode” so you can steal their tablet instead of them always stealing from you and HDTV connection (with mini HDMI cable).

ASUS MeMO Pad
Price: $150
This smaller 7-inch tablet features 10-finger multi-touch, 7 hours of battery life and a cool bunch of different cover/color choices. Runs Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) and includes 16GB of memory.

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